Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Brain Teaser

Science 101: We have three brains not one.

First. The Reptilian Brain: Breathe in, breathe out. This is the oldest and most instinctive part of ourselves. It is the part of the brain responsible for our breathing, our heartbeat and all other body functions. It repeats behaviors over and over, never adapting and never learning. The goal of the reptilian brain to preserve life at all costs.

Second. The Limbic System: This is the second brain. This is our emotional brain, concerned with feelings. The emotional brain isn't very smart. It understands "pleasant" or "painful," and "safety" or "danger." The limbic system moves toward pleasure and away from pain.

Third. The Neocortex: This is our thinking brain - the place where we decide we want to do something different.

Pay attention. Here's the big point...

Big Point. Depending on what our desired change is, how it is presented, and what we've done in the past, our Emotional Brain may not cooperate. Remember our Emotional Brain scans for pleasure and safety. According to Ryan, "That is whey we so often "sabotage" ourselves - If the change seems like it's too scary, too hard, or no fun, your emotional brain is going to work against it."

Solution. Get your Emotional Brain to cooperate with your Neocortex by figuring out what will be fun, new, easy, and different about developing this new habit or achieving this new goal.

Today's activity. Spend some time mulling over this question. What could be easy, fun, new, and different about creating this new habit of yours? Jot some notes on the paper you tucked away after yesterday's activity.

But... according to Ryan, "Allow your creative thinking to percolate over the next few days. The more you can find what is fun and enjoyable about what you want, the more your emotional brain will cooperate."

Never Too Late: Some of you jumped on yesterday's activity like white on rice. Others participated but didn't post, and still others are slow adopters riding the wave to see if it's worth the effort. It is.

Kudos to all of you who jumped right in and named your year. Of those willing to share in the comment section, so far it seems we have:
The Year of the Book (me)
The Year of the Phone (Katie)
The Year of Art (Cheryl)
The Year of Yoga (Lindsay)
The Year of Organization (Holly)
The Year of Decorating (Heather)
The Year of Balance (Peggy)
The Year of Me (Robin) and
The Year of the Card Company (Chaotic).

Our questions. We want to know, what could be easy, fun, new, and different about...
writing a book
mastering the telephone
producing art
delving into yoga
getting more organized
decorating my home
achieving balance
focusing on self; and
launching a card company?

Who wants to start? Join us in the comment section and share some of your preliminary thoughts about what's easy, fun, new, and different about your resolution - or anybody else's for that matter.

Holly... Being more organized will free up time, create less stress, and make your home more aesthetically pleasing.

Join the Journey.


12 comments:

Mandy said...

OK ladies... you don't know me yet... but I'm going to catch up with you all and post today!

Hi, My name is Mandy! (jk)...
This will be my Year of Family.

I don't want to increase my family ties, but let some of it go. My abusive husband and I split a year ago, and MY family has not forgiven me for that. Somehow it's twisted around, and I need to let go of some of the family that was so dear to me. Apparently I was the "center" of the family and somehow when my life got complicated, I abandoned them. It's obviously a much longer story than just that, but I need to learn how to let go of what hurts me, and simplify. I may need help, since I've been a doormat for so long... but I'm in a good place, with a wonderful man whom I've been friends with for 25 years, and I have 3 beautiful children to take care of. I'm at the happiest point in my life, that I've ever known, but I still need to figure out how to let it go, be happy, and get past the judgment.

I do have a VERY long list of goals too... this is awesome for me! Thanks so much for kicking me in the butt!!

Cheryl Houston said...

That damn Limbic system screws everything up! :0)

What could be easy, fun, new, and different about creating (blank)?

For me- once I get in the groove of drawing/painting/creating I enjoy it and I have a sense of pride in my finish products.

It's good to see a new face on here Mandy. Welcome. The pics of your kids on your blog are adorable.

Heather said...

Mandy...Welcome! And good for you! You have given your children a wonderful gift in standing up for yourself.

Hopefully we can be a support for you during your Year of Family.

What can be fun and exciting about decorating a home?

For most of you everything! Trust that my barriers list was long and detailed...but today we are focusing on the postive so here is my fun list:

-having a place to host gatherings that we are proud of
-Creating an environment that is relaxing and fun
-splurging on the little extras for the house (okay this was on my negatives too)
-creating a home in Texas

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Hello Mandy and boy are we excited to have you with us. It will be a great year together and we are looking forward to getting to know you (and your family) better. Thanks for sharing. It's one of the things that makes this place so sacred.

Cheryl... other easy, fun, new, and different things about creating your art is that you leave in your wake a trace of your talents and gifts. Also, your home gets cooler and cooler as you create pieces to display (feel free to exhibit in my house as well), and I imagine creating art is somewhat therapeutic.

Heather... The Year of Decorating can also be easy, fun, new, and different because decorating brings you more in touch with your likes and dislikes, it gives you a reason to bargain hunt, and you'll begin learning new things about fabrics, colors, etc....

Now for me... what is easy, fun, new, and different about writing a book. Well... it allows me to do something every day which I enjoy. Finishing the book will provide a great sense of satisfaction. If I am successful, I can have a career as a writer - which I will like because of flexibility in schedule. Like Cheryl's art, I also like the idea of leaving behind some trace of who I am. I could be on Oprah's best seller list and that would be fun. Oh, wait, she's ending her show this year. Not enough time.

The list goes on.

How about the rest of you. Remember, we are mulling this over in our heads for the next couple of days, because we want our list to be long enough and healthy enough that we can outsmart our Limbic system.

Katie said...

What could be easy, fun, new, and different about mastering the telephone?

- It allows me to stay in touch with more people
- It is a skill that can help me in my job, too
- I will maintain more friendships
- When I conquer this fear, it will motivate me to conquer other fears

Cheryl Houston said...

I like Robin's the Year of Me and this can probably apply to Peggy's year of Balance, too.

When we take care of ourselves, we're happier resulting in others being happier to be around us. Make sense?

Holly Moore said...

What could be easy, fun, new, and different about being organized this year:

-there are so many methods and tools I can use to become better organized (cant wait to discover Claudia's planner)
-it is a skill that I can teach my children and if they are organzied it helps me too
-with a baby coming in August I am committed to being organized so I can enjoy time with our new baby and our 8 and 15 year old boys

Kat said...

Hellooooo, HLA! I am so sorry that I missed out on yesterday! This year, my resolution is to get into a personal routine and maintain the organization that I did last year. What is new and exciting about a routine?
-I can schedule time for myself, my family, and my home to make sure they all get what they need.
-It will give me a plan for what I need to do when so I can have more time for fun stuff!

Today my mini goal is to start a preliminary routine that I can tweak over the next few weeks.

Peggy said...

What's fun about Balance?... well I would like to put it as a play on words:

blind justice statue: the scales to even out things, "There are things that courts are not supposed to see or recognize when making their decisions"

literally walking on a balance beam, keeping my head up and my body in check with the task at hand

balance: life, work, children, being a mother, wife, friend, a checkbook

habit of calm behavior

ability to decide an outcome by throwing one's strength,

mental steadiness

focus your mind. awaken your spirit. strengthen your body. awaken your spirit. balance•yoga

FUN yet?

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Kat... So, can we put you down for the Year of The Routine?

We're going to visit and revisit our named years throughout 2010. This will give you something to latch onto each time we delve into the topic.

Yes, I will go in and add some of the latest named years (Robin, Mandi, and Kat).

And, Peggy... yes, I am feeling the fun. I love all the visual cues you have assigned to your year. I see a vision board in the making!

Robin said...

The parts of the year include learning to play guitar so I can play music for some of our family sing a longs, learn to finish my sign language courses, find a studio to teach at and not worry about everyone else (needless worries, the real stuff stays) and use my massage gift certificates! LOL

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